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Re: How to beat the recession
Quite right Washdoc, being busy does not mean youre making money. I would much prefer 5 fair minded customers a day who realise you must charge a fair rate for your service, than 10 timewasters.
I know its tough when there are loads of muppets in an area with no callout, but i firmly believe most sensible people see straight through that age old hook & wonder what the catch is :rolls:
Re: How to beat the recession
Well madmac i see from your from Scottish Highlands now i have family in Aberdeenshire, Huntley and i know the area quiet well, now believe me iv very gald i dont work up there, and if i did and offered free callout i would be a mug for sure! and maybe id even start to look like muppet?who knows 😆
My aunt lives in a house about 10 miles from any form of life whatso ever, the closest thing for miles is maybe a sheep or a cow i certainly would’ent like to do a service call to her house. and then nip back to shop for parts 😯
Re: How to beat the recession
I didnt mean to imply youre a muppet simonb 😉 but i do believe you are selling yourself short by offering your time for free.
But hey, its your business & you have to operate in your area in a way which generates calls i guess.What i would say, is i used to offer the very same thing, did it for years, but i can honestly say since starting to charge a modest fixed callout my workload didnt suffer at all. The only thing that dropped was my stress levels, no more spending half an hour finding a house, diagnosing a fault, only to be told “I’ll think about it” :rolls:
Re: How to beat the recession
Yes i do see your point here, i used to charge a higher rate than what i do now, sometimes almost double than i do now initially but iv found through trial and error and i make my customers very aware that i try to charge the same price each time £50 i also give a free warranty on full washer for a short time after, thats what i go for each time, now if i get a bearing job on, i advise them to scrap it as the cost of replacement either new or reconditioned as they are so cheap, that goes for timers and most modules iv give up on them, as well my catchment area now iv reduced in distance im well known locally and have a good reputation for being on the customers side instead of a rip off (their point of view not mine!!, i personally think as skilled engineers were worth far more as same as gas), this iv found all works in my favour and gets me a good supply of work without advertising,my overheads i keep to bare min i use my car now but can get 2 appliances in the back if needed 😆 dont bother with premises anymore dont bother with yellowpages or thomson or evening news
Now i can literally walk to the next job in comparison to when i started also my area is very price conscious so i have to keep it keen, iv never tryed call out charge, the only time i do charge if i get a call from someone out of town, mostly point blank refusal
yes id dread trying it with call out charge in the evening news last week their was about 8 adds all offering domestic appliance repairs all offering free call out and estimates,
I talk to local independent businesses as well none of them charge either
now to be fair and honest when i first started out on my own i used to go were the work was and could drive miles and sometimes out into the sticks and yes i can identify with your stress here i remember feeling like id just been had over a few times by complete and utter time wasters probably an hour or sometimes more down the pan.Its just what works in my area, things have worked ok for a few years now, but last 6 weeks or so id say iv took a dip down in sales, doesn’t seem like the normal ups and downs as people are beginning to talk about a recession so it may be back to the drawing board soon 🙁
I do free local call outs and estimates on freestanding washing machines and dishwashers but not on built in appliances and double door fridge freezers.
Im intrested to know if anyone does free call outs to integrated machines?Re: How to beat the recession
Yeah, its been a feast & famine year round these parts too, think we may all be looking at a lean period for a few months yet.
Sounds like you have what works for your area sussed & at the end of the day, thats what we all must do to make a crust.A large urban area will always have more competition than the scattered rural community i roam around, & with Diesel at current rate i simply have to charge for turning up, indeed, people would think it strange if i didnt!
Its not an easy game these days though, wherever you are, no wonder we’re an endangered species! 😯
Re: How to beat the recession
I’m in a similar geographical situation to Madmac. Most of the competition round here has either retired or moved into other types of business. If I had a mortgage, wife, kids etc I would have also given it up as a bad job by now. I’ve always charged a callout fee and it probably only causes me to lose something like one job in twenty. My vehicle fuel bill has always been my biggest single expense, including business and personal expenses and yet I only do about 12000 to 15000 miles a year. Most of my customers are at least five miles away so I have to make sure I recover my fuel costs.
Re: How to beat the recession
on the face value you would think repair business would do better? as people try to save money?
Re: How to beat the recession
I have found that people are spending more on repairs than say, 2 years ago when they would bin it for a broken door catch. Integrated stuff is great as the removal and refitting makes a simple unblock job look enormous. £150 repair on a Belling (Haier) integrated dishwasher? “Go ahead”. 😀
I don’t like the words ‘Call Out Charge’. So I never use them. I charge a LABOUR charge, or a ‘job price’ depending on the information gained on the phone. You are not lying, you are still giving them a choice while covering your costs. Good customers realize this. I also say that if the machine is BER, then there will be a charge of £20 for my time. In all honesty, if you say it up front and are clear that if you call there will be a charge made, then in my experience, 95{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} + will say OK and book a call. The other 5{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} I don’t need as customers. Wording it differently can make a world of difference. I have stopped feeling guilty as nobody can work for nothing. Nobody feels guilty charging me!! Anyone expecting free estimates can speak to me over the phone. Then if they want a free call out, we advise them that there is no call out charge, but there is a labour charge of £ X payable for the time.
No problems. Firm, but fair for both parties. 😉Steve.
Re: How to beat the recession
I call it a ‘weed out the wasters & wa*nkers’ charge, as i find it useful in that regard.. they wouldnt let me put that in my yellow pages ad though..shame 😯
Re: How to beat the recession
Madmac wrote:I call it a ‘weed out the wasters & wa*nkers’ charge, as i find it useful in that regard.. they wouldnt let me put that in my yellow pages ad though..shame 😯
At one time I did free call outs and estimates, looking back I must have been mad, about 2 out of 10 calls were looking for a £10 repair or had no money to pay for the work and wanted you to go back after payday.
I totally agree, making a charge for estimates sure gets rid of the customers from hell, who want to pay bugger all for a repair and expect a lifetime guarantee on the machine.
On my adverts it still says no call out charge, but no longer says free estimates.
A lot of the time wasters start by saying I want a quote for a repair, there is no call out charge is there?I say that’s right our engineer will call and give you a price, if you have it repaired we don’t charge for callout, just for the parts and labour required for the repair.
we charge £20.00 for an estimate if you don’t have the work done.Amazing how many hang up or say they will call back ,but never do.
I lose nothing by making an estimate charge of £20.00 but gain hours of time saved and my fuel bills are lower too, after all if they want my time they must pay for it now.Re: How to beat the recession
Gazman1000 wrote:Amazing how many hang up or say they will call back ,but never do.
And you miss them so much. 😉 😆
K.
Re: How to beat the recession
Just of a matter of interest i know a local business that charges call out charges to dishwashers and refrigeration but how can i put it, their skill level and technical knowledge is rather lacking? basically they turn up and mostly ber the machine for the collection of callout charge?
Whats the fair and honest way of dealing with the situation of turning up to a later machine that you start to scratch your head at whilst looking at 😕 do you charge callout charge or labour fee? from time to time iv had problems even when iv not charged a sausage from customers when i cannot repair the machine because of lack of techincal info. as a matter of interest does anyone know the best way to deal with this problem without loosing reputation
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